Pipe clamping device

ABSTRACT

A pipe clamping device having a stronger gripping force by an elastic deform of a clamp ring during screw-tightening is provided. The pipe clamping device includes at least one clamp ring installed between a female bracket and a male bracket, and made of an elastic material to have a predetermined deform, pressure rings installed in the upper and lower portions of the clamp ring, respectively, and an O-ring formed between the pressure ring and the female bracket and pressurizes the pressure rings to closely contact and seal the pipe. Accordingly a pipe can be easily inserted into and assembled with the clamp ring during an assembly. After assembly, when the female bracket is screw-tightened with the male bracket, the entrance of the blade is narrowed and thus the inner diameter of the clamp ring is also narrowed.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a pipe clamping device, and moreparticularly, to a pipe clamping device having a stronger gripping forceby an elastic deform of a clamp ring during screw-tightening.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, when a pipe and another pipe are connected with each other,a pipe clamping device which bites and fixes pipes is widely used inorder to combine the pipes with each other strongly without leakinginternal fluid from the pipes.

A conventional pipe clamping device includes a clamp ring which isinstalled between a female bracket and a male bracket which arescrew-tightened with each other, and which is formed of a simplifiedmetal ring shape in which a blade of the clamp ring bites the outercircumferences of pipes in order to prevent the pipes from seceding, andan O-ring which seals a gap between the pipes bitten by the clamp ring.

Here, the clamp ring is forcedly engaged with the pipes, and the bladeof the clamp ring is formed slantly in the direction of preventingsecession of the pipes. However, the shape of the blade is maintained asit is although a female bracket is screw-tightened with a male bracket.Thus, the inner diameter of the blade is not narrowed.

That is, the clamp ring in the conventional pipe clamping device hasonly to bite and fix pipes forcibly so that the pipes are not secededfrom the clamping device. In other words, a clamping force is notincreased by screw-tightening of the female bracket and the malebracket.

Thus, in order to heighten a clamping force of the clamp ring in theconventional pipe clamping device, a compulsive gripping force ofcatching hold of pipes should be increased.

However, a compulsive engagement work which is performed by insertingpipes into a conventional clamp ring having a small amount of elasticdeform and forcedly biting and fixing the pipes with and to the clampring with a sufficient gripping force, requires much force in fittingthe clamp ring having a narrow entrance diameter with the pipes.Accordingly, it is very difficult to connect and disconnect pipes withand from the clamp ring.

Also, since the outer diameter of the clamp ring should be increased inorder to obtain a sufficient gripping force, the outer diameters of thefemale bracket and the male bracket become large. Thus, the externalappearance of the clamping device becomes large and a manufacturing costis increased.

Also, since the conventional pipe clamping device uses only a singleclamp ring, it is difficult to increase a pipe gripping force asdesired. In view of designing the pipe clamping device, there is no wayto reduce the external diameters of the female and male brackets. As aresult, a pipe gripping strength becomes weak.

Also, since the conventional pipe clamping device has a clearance spacewhich allows elastic deform after assembly, a gripping force is lost dueto a change in elasticity after assembly to thereby lower a durability,and thus a reliability for performance of a product is lowered.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a pipe clamping device in which a pipe can be easily insertedinto and assembled with a clamp ring during an assembly, and afterassembly, when a female bracket is screw-tightened with a male bracket,the entrance of the blade of the clamp ring is narrowed and thus theinner diameter of the clamp ring is also narrowed, with a result that abite strength is increased to enable a strong grip of a pipe and to makeit easy to connect and disconnect a pipe with and from the clampingdevice.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a pipe clampingdevice in which an outer diameter of a clamp ring can be reduced since asufficient gripping force can be easily obtained by using an elasticdeform of the clamp ring, to accordingly reduce the outer diameters of afemale bracket and a male bracket to thereby make the externalappearance of a product slimmed and thus save a manufacturing cost.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a pipeclamping device in which a number of clamp rings are arranged inparallel with each other to thereby increase a pipe gripping force asdesired and the outer diameters of the clamp rings can be reduced tothereby greatly reduce the external diameters of the female and malebrackets, and to thereby strengthen a pipe gripping force, in view ofdesigning the pipe clamping device.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a pipeclamping device having no clearance space which allows elastic deformsince the pipe clamping device is screw-tightened after assembly, inwhich lowering of a durability which is caused by a gripping force lostdue to a change in elasticity after assembly can be prevented, and thusa reliability for performance of a product can be enhanced.

To accomplish the above objects of the present invention, according toan aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pipe clampingdevice which is installed between a female bracket and a male bracketwhich are connected with each other to fix a pipe, the pipe clampingdevice comprising: at least one clamp ring which is installed betweenthe female bracket and the male bracket, and made of an elastic materialto have a predetermined deform, in which a blade which bites the outercircumference of an inserted pipe is formed around the innercircumference of the clamp ring; pressure rings which are installed inthe upper and lower portions of the clamp ring, respectively, in orderto pressurize the clamp ring so that the blade of the clamp ring iselastically displaced in the direction of biting and fixing the pipe tothereby create a change in a bite angle when the female bracket iscombined with the male bracket to then be screw-tightened; and an O-ringwhich is formed between the pressure ring and the female bracket andpressurizes the pressure ring and closely contacts and seals the pipewhen the female bracket is screw-tightened with the male bracket.

Preferably, the clamp ring comprises a blade on the inner circumferencethereof which contacts a pipe and is made of a ring shaped metal mainbody in which at least one clearance groove is radially disposed fromthe inner diameter portion to the outer diameter portion so that thediameter of the blade can be elastically extended, with a result thatthe entrance of the blade can be narrowed during tightening of the clampring, the main body is formed to be slant by a predetermined angle withreference to the horizontal surface in a direction of preventingsecession of the pipe, and the blade is made of an elastic materialwhich can be elastically deformed so that it is formed to be bent andslant by a predetermined angle with reference to the main body in adirection of preventing secession of the pipe, and the main body ispressurized by the pressure ring and elastically deformed when thefemale bracket is screw-tightened with the male bracket, with a resultthat the main body except for the blade is spread out horizontally andthus the inner diameter of the main body is narrowed and a biting degreeof the blade becomes deep.

Preferably, the pressure ring is made of a synthetic resin of a circularshape whose upper and lower surfaces are flat in order to pressurize theclamp ring easily, in which at least one clamp ring is installed betweenthe female bracket and the male bracket, and the total height of thepressure ring, the clamp ring and the O-ring is equal to or larger thanthe height of the space formed between the female bracket and the malebracket.

Preferably, at least two clamp rings are installed in parallel with eachother so as to bite a pipe in order to increase a gripping force of theclamp ring and make the external appearance of a product slimmed, inwhich the sequence of installing the pressure ring, the clamp ring andthe O-ring follows a sequence of a female bracket, an O-ring, a pressurering, a clamp ring, another pressure ring (or a number of spare pressurerings), another clamp ring, the other pressure ring, and a male bracket,so that each clamp ring is enclosed by the pressure rings from top tobottom.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent by describing the preferred embodiment thereof inmore detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a pipe clamping deviceaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a clamp ring of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the clamp ring of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a pressure ring of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the pressure ring of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side cross-sectional view showing a state where the pipeclamping device is assembled and screw-untightened between a femalebracket and a male bracket; and

FIG. 7 is a side cross-sectional view showing a state where the pipeclamping device is assembled and screw-tightened between the femalebracket and the male bracket.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinbelow, a pipe clamping device according to preferred embodimentsof the present invention will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, a pipe clamping device according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention is installed between afemale bracket 1 and a male bracket 2 which are coupled with each other,in order to clamp a pipe 3. The pipe clamping device includes a clampring 10 which clamps the pipe 3, a pressure ring 20 which pressurizesthe clamp ring 10 so that the entrance of the clamp ring 10 is narrowed,and an O-ring 30 which seals the pipe 3.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the clamp ring 10 is installed between thefemale bracket 1 and the male bracket 2. A blade 12 which grips theouter circumference of the pipe 3 and fixes the pipe 3, is formed in theinner circumference of the clamp ring 10, and is made of an elasticmaterial so as to be deformed with a predetermined displacement.Further, the clamp ring 10 has the blade 12 at the inner circumferencewhich contacts the pipe 3 and a ring shaped metal main body in which atleast one clearance groove is radially disposed in the outer diametricaldirection from the inner circumference so that the elastic diameter ofthe blade 12 can be extended.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the clearance groove 14 of the clamp ring 10includes a linear clearance groove 14 a formed in a vertical straightline from the inner diameter in the main body 11 and a circularclearance groove 14 b formed extensively in a circle at the end of thelinear clearance groove 14 a. Accordingly, the elastic gap of the blade12 can be secured.

Thus, when the blade 12 bites and fixes the outer circumference of thepipe 3, the clamp ring 10 can support the pipe 3 firmly with anappropriate elastic force which is loose in comparison with thenon-pressure type conventional art.

Also, as shown in FIG. 3, the main body 11 is formed slantly by apredetermined angle “A” with reference to the horizontal surface in adirection of preventing secession of the pipe 3.

Also, the blade 12 is formed slantly so as to be bent by a predeterminedangle “B” with reference to the main body 11 in a direction ofpreventing secession of the pipe 3. If the female bracket 1 isscrew-tightened with the male bracket 2, the main body 11 is pressurizedby the pressure ring 20 and elastically deformed. Accordingly, the mainbody 11 is made of an elastic material which can be elastically deformedso that the main body 11 excluding the blade 12 is spread horizontallyand thus the inner diameter of the main body 11 is narrowed to therebymake the biting degree of the blade 12 deeper.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the pressure ring 20 is installedin the upper and lower portions of the clamp ring 10, respectively, tothereby pressurize the clamp ring 10, so that if the female bracket 1 iscoupled with and screw-tightened with the male bracket 2 so that themain body 11 of the slant clamp ring 10 is spread horizontally and thusthe entrance of the clamp ring 10 is narrowed, the blade 12 of the clampring 10 is elastically deformed in a direction of biting and fixing thepipe 3 and a biting angle is changed.

The pressure ring 20 is formed of a synthetic resin circular plate shapewhose upper and lower surfaces are flat. At least one pressure ring 20is installed between the female bracket 1 and the male bracket 2together with the clamp ring 10. The pressure ring 20 plays a role ofuniformly dispersing pressure concentrated when the female bracket 1 isscrew-tightened with the male bracket 2 into the main body 11 of theclamp ring 10 so that the clamp ring 10 can be horizontally spread. Forthis purpose, it is preferable that the pressure ring 20 is made of hardmetal or synthetic resin having a predetermined rigidness.

Meanwhile, the O-ring 30 is formed between the pressure ring 20 and thefemale bracket 1. If the female bracket 1 is screw-tightened with themale bracket 2, the O-ring 30 pressurizes the pressure ring 20 and alsoclosely contacts between the pipe 3 and the female bracket 1 to therebyfunction as a seal.

Thus, an assembly state and operational relationship of the pipeclamping device will be described below with reference to FIG. 6. Asshown in FIG. 6, the total height of the pressure ring 20, the clampring 10 and the O-ring 30 is equal to or larger than the height of thespace formed between the female bracket 1 and the male bracket 2.Preferably, at least two clamp rings 10 are installed in parallel witheach other so as to bite a pipe 3 and simultaneously the sequence ofinstalling the pressure ring 20, the clamp ring 10 and the O-ring 30follows a sequence of a female bracket 1, an O-ring 30, a pressure ring20, a clamp ring 10, another pressure ring 20 (or a number of sparepressure rings), another clamp ring 10, the other pressure ring 20, anda male bracket 2, so that each clamp ring 10 is enclosed by the pressurerings 20 from top to bottom. Then, the female bracket 1 is assembledwith the male bracket 2 and prepared to be screw-tightened with the malebracket 2.

Here, since the main body of the clamp ring 10 is inclined, the entranceof the blade 12 in the clamp ring 10, that is, the inner diameter islarge so that the pipe 3 can be easily inserted into the clamp ring 10.

Also, as shown in FIG. 7, if the female bracket 1 is completelyscrew-tightened with the male bracket 2, the O-ring 30 is pressurized bythe female bracket 1 and the male bracket 2. Then, the O-ring 30transfers the pressure to the pressure ring 20.

Then, the pressure ring 20 pressurizes the main body 11 of the clampring 10 in a uniformly dispersed manner with the pressure transferredfrom the O-ring 30. Accordingly, the main body 11 of the clamp ring 10is horizontally spread.

In this case, the main body 11 of the slant clamp ring 10 ishorizontally spread, and simultaneously an elastic deform occurs whichnarrows the entrance of the blade 12 in the clamp ring 10, that is, theinner diameter occurs. For this reason, loosely bitten pipe 3 is firmlyfixed due to biting of the narrowed blade 12, and simultaneously theangle of the blade 12 is maintained as it is, to thereby preventsecession of the pipe 3.

Therefore, if two or more clamp rings 10 are installed and the pressurerings 20 of a variety of thicknesses are installed between the clamprings 10, the overall biting angle of the clamp rings 10 with respect tothe pipe 3 can be further increased. As a result, the clamping strengthof the pipe 3 can be adjusted as desired according to the kind of thepipe 3 or the installation conditions of the pipe 3.

Here, since the pipe clamping strength is increased a little in athickness direction of the external appearances of the female bracket 1and the male bracket 2 but is not increased in an outer diameterdirection, it is possible to accomplish a stepwise increase of thebiting strength of the pipe 3 and a very firm fixture of the pipe 3within the range which does not limit the installation space of the pipe3.

Also, after screw-tightening of the female bracket 1 and the malebracket 2, a clearance space in which the clamp ring 10 can beadditionally deformed disappears owing to the pressure rings 20 whichoccupy the space. Accordingly, a loosening phenomenon occurring due tolowering of the elasticity of the clamp rings 20 can be prevented.

Besides, it is easy to insert the pipe 3 into the clamp rings 20 duringassembly and installation of the pipe 3. Also, if the female bracket 1is screw-untightened during disassembly of the pipe 3, the main body 11of the clamp ring 10 is elastically restored so as to be inclined.Accordingly, the inner diameter of the blade 12, that is, the entranceof the blade 12 becomes wider to thereby make it easy to secede the pipe3.

As described above, in a pipe clamping device according to the presentinvention, a pipe can be easily inserted into and assembled with a clampring during an assembly, and after assembly, when a female bracket isscrew-tightened with a male bracket, the entrance of the blade of theclamp ring is narrowed and thus the inner diameter of the clamp ring isalso narrowed, with a result that a bite strength is increased to enablea strong grip of a pipe and to make it easy to connect and disconnect apipe with and from the clamping device.

The pipe clamping device is also provided in which an outer diameter ofa clamp ring can be reduced since a sufficient gripping force can beeasily obtained by using an elastic deform of the clamp ring, toaccordingly reduce the outer diameters of a female bracket and a malebracket to thereby make the external appearance of a product slimmed andthus save a manufacturing cost.

The pipe clamping device is also provided in which a number of clamprings are arranged in parallel with each other to thereby increase apipe gripping force as desired and the outer diameters of the clamprings can be reduced to thereby greatly reduce the external diameters ofthe female and male brackets, and to thereby strengthen a pipe grippingforce, in view of designing the pipe clamping device.

The pipe clamping device is also provided having no clearance spacewhich allows elastic deform since the pipe clamping device isscrew-tightened after assembly, in which lowering of a durability whichis caused by a gripping force lost due to a change in elasticity afterassembly can be prevented, and thus a reliability for performance of aproduct can be enhanced.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, the present invention is applied to a pipe clampingdevice which bites and fixes a pipe.

As described above, the present invention has been described withrespect to particularly preferred embodiments. However, the presentinvention is not limited to the above embodiments, and it is possiblefor one who has an ordinary skill in the art to make variousmodifications and variations, without departing off the spirit of thepresent invention. For example, the shape of the clearance groove in theclamp ring can be formed in a very various form, and also the number ofthe clamp rings to be installed can be in a variety of figures, Also,the thickness, shape and height of the pressure ring can be variouslyfabricated. Thus, the protective scope of the present invention is notdefined within the detailed description thereof but is defined by theclaims to be described later and the technical spirit of the presentinvention.

1. A pipe clamping device which is installed between a female bracketand a male bracket which are connected with each other to fix a pipe,the pipe clamping device comprising: at least one clamp ring which isinstalled between the female bracket and the male bracket, and made ofan elastic material to have a predetermined deform so that it is formedto be bent and slant by a predetermined angle, in which a blade whichbites the outer circumference of an inserted pipe is formed around theinner circumference of the clamp ring; and pressure rings which areinstalled in the upper and lower portions of the clamp ring,respectively, in order to pressurize the clamp ring so that the blade ofthe clamp ring is elastically displaced in the direction of biting andfixing the pipe to thereby create a change in a bite angle when thefemale bracket is combined with the male bracket to then bescrew-tightened.
 2. The pipe clamping device of claim 1, wherein theclamp ring comprises a blade on the inner circumference thereof whichcontacts a pipe and is made of a ring shaped metal main body in which atleast one clearance groove is radially disposed from the inner diameterportion to the outer diameter portion so that the diameter of the bladecan be elastically extended, with a result that the entrance of theblade can be narrowed during tightening of the clamp ring, the main bodyis formed to be slant by a predetermined angle with reference to thehorizontal surface in a direction of preventing secession of the pipe,and the blade is made of an elastic material which can be elasticallydeformed so that it is formed to be bent and slant by a predeterminedangle with reference to the main body in a direction of preventingsecession of the pipe, and the main body is pressurized by the pressurering and elastically deformed when the female bracket is screw-tightenedwith the male bracket, with a result that the main body except for theblade is spread out horizontally and thus the inner diameter of the mainbody is narrowed and a biting degree of the blade becomes deep.
 3. Thepipe clamping device of claim 2, wherein the clearance groove of theclamp ring includes a linear clearance groove formed in a verticalstraight line from the inner diameter in the main body and a circularclearance groove formed extensively in a circle at the end of the linearclearance groove.
 4. The pipe clamping device of claim 1, wherein thepressure ring is formed of a circular shape whose upper and lowersurfaces are flat in order to pressurize the inclined main body ofclamping ring and change a biting angle, in which at least one pressurering is installed between the female bracket and the male bracket, andthe total height of the pressure ring, the clamp ring and the O-ring isequal to or larger than the height of the space formed between thefemale bracket and the male bracket.
 5. The pipe clamping device ofclaim 1, further comprising an O-ring which is formed between thepressure ring and the female bracket and pressurizes the pressure ringand closely contacts and seals the pipe when the female bracket isscrew-tightened with the male bracket, wherein at least two clamp ringsare installed in parallel with each other so as to bite a pipe in orderto increase a gripping force of the clamp ring and make the externalappearance of a product slimmed, in which the sequence of installing thepressure ring, the clamp ring and the O-ring follows a sequence of afemale bracket, an O-ring, a pressure ring, a clamp ring, anotherpressure ring (or a number of spare pressure rings), another clamp ring,the other pressure ring, and a male bracket, so that each clamp ring isenclosed by the pressure rings from top to bottom.